Sion, TCS Camping Festival, 5.-7.7.2018

Friday, July 5th: Bülach - Sion

Bülach - Lucerne - Brünig Pass - Meiringen - Guttannen (Gelmerbahn) - Grimsel Pass - Sion

On our way to Valais, we stopped at the Gelmerbahn, which has a slope of 106% 😳! Unfortunately, all the tickets for the train were sold out, so we crossed the Handeckfall Bridge, which has a height of 70m, and visited the cheese dairy on the other side. Stocked up with local cheese and sausage, we continued up to the Grimsel Pass.

We finally arrived at the TCS Camping in Sion shortly after 3:00 pm. At the festival reception, we were assigned our spot and settled comfortably in the 'VW Village'. Then we went on a little exploration tour and Berni took a swim in the bathing lake. At 5:00 pm, the aperitif took place next to the big circus tent. At VW, you could see the new 'Grand California'. The camper is huge, but it rather resembles a whale... Afterwards, there was a barbecue party with live music until late at night.

Saturday, July 6th: Sion Discovery Tour

After a wonderful breakfast in the sun, we went on a discovery tour of Sion, including the 'Rallye des Vins de Sions' with wine tastings at local wineries. That means we only visited one out of 5 tastings... The stop at Domaine du Mont d'Or would surely have pleased our fathers as they used to have wines from Mont d'Or 😊.

The next stop was in the city center. Here we followed the discovery tour through the beautiful old town and climbed up to the Valère hill with the basilica. On the opposite Tourbillon, there is the ruin of the former bishop's castle from the 13th century.

Back at the campsite, we waited out a little thunderstorm, then Berni went on a bike tour 🚵‍♂️, I enjoyed the deck chair, and then actually took a swim in the lake... 😝👍

Tonight was raclette evening with 🇨🇭 folk music 🎶. Later, there was a live concert by Pat Burgener, a snowboarder from Valais. Afterwards, we sat in front of the bus and watched the SRF doc 'Salar's journey to Iran' in replay. ✨

Sunday, July 7th: Return journey

Another short thunderstorm in the morning. We snuggled back into the sleeping bag and watched the hustle and bustle through the curtains. At 9:00 am, the sky was already blue and sunny again as we went to the festival brunch.

Everything was packed and Emily was made ready to go. The return journey went through the Lötschberg Tunnel, then along Lake Thun to Interlaken, Brienz, back over the Brünig Pass to Lucerne and then home.

Another wonderful weekend with Emily 🚐💨💨☀️🏞🍹... 😍